An inductor of this type is known to the person skilled in the art in this case as an inductive component appertaining to electrical engineering and serves, in particular, for storing and rereleasing electrical energy. For this purpose, the inductor includes an electrical conductor for generating a magnetic field and also at least one inductor core unit which is arranged in the region of the electrical conductor and which includes, for its part, an inductor core composed of a magnetizable material. In order to obtain a magnetic flux density of the inductor core that is not excessively high, the inductor core includes at least one air gap, by virtue of which a magnetic saturation of the inductor core occurs only at significantly higher field strengths and excessive heating during the operation of the inductor with AC current is avoided. For the purpose of mechanical stabilization of the inductor core, a filling material is introduced at least into part of the air gap, as a result of which both undesired sound emissions during the operation of the inductor and alterations of the gap width are intended to be avoided. The filling material used for this purpose is usually organic adhesives or silicones, which are firstly introduced into the air gap and subsequently cured therein.
What can be regarded as disadvantageous in this case is the circumstance that, as a result of the temperature changes during the operation of inductors of this type, cracking occurs in the filling material of the gap of the inductor core unit or in the magnetizable material of the inductor core, which as a further consequence entails a significant amplification of the sound emissions in the frequency range audible to humans and also a reduction of the mechanical stability of the inductor core unit. This considerably reduces the operating period of the inductor with low sound emission.